Important Notes Regarding Your Personal and Premises Licences

PREMISES LICENCE

Your Premises Licence is in 2 parts. The Summary Premises Licence and the Premises Licence.

The holder of a Premises Licence must keep the Licence or a certified copy of it at the premises and must display the Summary Premises Licence prominently.

The summary is produced by the licensing authority and must contain information including:

-       the licensable activities and hours authorised

-       the identity of the licence holder

-       the name of the designated premises supervisor

The Premises Licence holder must ensure that the Premises Licence is kept at the premises under the control of either the holder of the licence, or they may nominate someone who works at the premises to hold the licence there.

Therefore a company holding the Licence will ensure that the Premises Licence or certified copy will be kept at the premises by a nominated person.

If someone is nominated at the premises they do not need to be the DPS or a Personal Licence holder but the nomination must be done in writing and a notice displayed on the premises to the effect. Sample authority notice for someone to hold a Premises Licence

Failure to comply with these requirements is a criminal offence punishable by a fine of £500.  A constable or authorised person has the power to require the licence to be produced for examination.

Unlike in the past each premises now has a unique Premises Licence specific to that premises. Conditions attached to one premises may not be the same as one previously worked in.

All members of staff should be made aware of the terms and conditions of the Premises Licence relating to their workplace.

PERSONAL LICENCES

A Personal Licence permits the holder to sell and supply, or authorise the sale and supply, of alcohol in accordance with the terms and conditions of a current Premises Licence. A Personal Licence holder must be able to produce the licence unless they have a reasonable excuse.

It should be noted that the sale of alcohol also requires a Premises Licence or a Temporary Event Notice (TEN).

Staff need to be generally authorised to sell and supply alcohol (not every sale, obviously!) and operators should consider:

-       An appropriate clause in staff contracts.

-       A signed and updated log held on the premises Sample of an Authorisation Sheet

LOST, STOLEN, DAMAGED or DESTROYED LICENCES

In circumstances where any of your licences become lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed you may request a copy via the Licensing Authority in writing along with the appropriate fee. Please note that in the case where it has been lost or stolen the loss or theft must have been reported to the police. We would strongly recommend the obtaining full details of who, when and where the loss or theft was reported to prevent any delays in obtaining a copy.

DEATH, INCAPACITY, INSOLVENCY etc of the PREMISES LICENCE HOLDER

If the holder of a Premises Licence either;

dies, becomes mentally incapable, becomes insolvent, is dissolved, in the case of a club it ceases to become a recognised club, if an individual they enter into a voluntary arrangement, become adjudged bankrupt, has their estate sequestrated or enters into a deed of arrangement or if a company is approved of a voluntary arrangement, is appointed an administrator or receiver or goes into liquidation;

The Premises Licence lapses and may be transferred in some cases but only within 7 days of the Premises Licence lapsing.

It is therefore very important, especially if you are a tenant, to check who the actual holder of a Premises Licence is. It could be that a holding company is named as the holder of a Premises Licence. If this holding company went into administration and nothing is done to transfer the Premises Licence it could lapse and you may have to close.

DESIGNATED PREMISES SUPERVISOR (DPS)

The Premises Licence holder must ensure that there is one specified individual, among personal licence holders at the premises, who can be readily identified as the person with day-to-day responsibility for the running of the premises. This person is the DPS.

The DPS may be the Premises Licence holder.

The DPS must be named on the Premises Licence

A DPS has the primary responsibility to ensure that alcohol is sold legally, in line with the terms of the licence granted for the premises and without harm to the four licensing objectives.

Offences which are most likely to cause a DPS’s own personal licence to be put at risk, or lead to a fine, or lead to the matter being reported to the licensing officer with a view to review of the premises licence.

-       Operating a licensable activity without a licence. This could take a number of forms

a.      Selling alcohol to the public at premises that have neither licence nor TEN

b.      Selling outside of licensed hours

c.       Conducting public entertainment on premises where its license does not include it (primarily a premises licensee offence as it does not cover alcohol)

d.      Continuing to sell alcohol when there is no valid DPS (mainly premises licensee)

e.       Breach of licence conditions

-       Holding alcohol for unauthorised sale

-       Disorderly conduct of premises

-       Selling alcohol to someone who is drunk, or permitting the sale

-       Sale of alcohol to under 18s or permitting the sale

-       Allowing an unaccompanied child (under 16) to come onto alcohol premises (ie bars, clubs but not restaurants) or allowing alcohol to be bought for a minor (except for 16-18 having beer, wine or cider with a meal so long as accompanied by an adult also having a meal and paying)

-       Keeping smuggled goods on the premises

-       failing to keep the DPS records up to date, including notifying all changes of address

It is strongly recommended that the DPS is employed at the premises. It is however possible for another qualified individual (an area manager for example) to be appointed as DPS provided:

o        He/she holds a Personal Licence.

o        Can be demonstrably shown to have day-to-day supervision of the premises.

Staff should be aware of who the DPS is for the premises in which they work and also should be aware of the terms and conditions of the Premises Licence. The DPS should ensure that the staff knows who the DPS is and the terms and conditions of the Premises Licence relating to their workplace.

REGULATED ENTERTAINMENTS – & EXEMPTIONS

In normal circumstances the Premises Licence will specify any permission for Regulated Entertainment and we recommend that operators work to their licence (or, occasionally, under a Temporary Event Notice), but these entertainments are ONLY licensable if they are for the public. Anything that happens at a private event is outside the Act, whether it happens at home or in a hired hall or at premises that are otherwise licensed for alcohol and entertainment to the public.

General exemptions from Regulated Entertainment are

-       Background music, whether live or recorded. The general definition of “background” is that it is ancillary to some other activity to create atmosphere, for instance a pub pianist, a CD player behind or even a jukebox (according to Guidance). Another way EHOs look at the definition is that music is background when customers can hold a normal level of conversation over it.

-       Live TV broadcasts

-       Morris dancing and the like

-       Spontaneous music and dancing. The licensee does not need to act in any way to prevent customers from singing or playing instruments they have brought along, if the song or dance has not been organised by the licensee. Neither is there any problem with customers spontaneously starting to dance along to a tune on the jukebox or live music.